Why “mess” is not a present participle here？ "What he did not do–and never did, even later on–was mess around with their words. " Why “mess” is not a present participle here？ THX~

Do the two sentence mean the same？ “I have traced no manuscript” “I have not traced manuscript” Do the two sentence mean the same？ Which one is used most If they have the same meaning？ THX~

What‘s the meaning of “be leaned on to do ” George Martin was being leaned on to sign them up What‘s the meaning of “be leaned on to do ” THX~the whole context is“ Behind the scenes, their publishing company (Ardmore and Beechwood) had heard the tapes of the Beatles’ failed Decca audition and liked the sound of their original compositions, such as ‘Like Dreamers Do’, and wanted to acquire publishing rights, so George Martin was being leaned on to sign them up”Despite all this, listening to them in the studio, George would presumably still have decided he personally did not want to work with them, if he had considered they were rubbish.“~~~~~~

What‘s the meaning of “in a single take”？ On that first album, all they did was repeat their stage performances, recording most of them in a single take. What‘s the meaning of “in a single take”？ THX~

Can a clause be added after“such as” ，like the sentence ？ The sentence is “British pop music, such as it was in the fifties and early sixties, was also London-centred, with a prejudice against provincial towns and cities.” Can a clause be added after “such as” ？ I have never seen that before~ Thanks~

I don't understand the use of “was not quite as intense”~ The sentence is "His relationship with John was not quite as intense." What's the meaning of ' was not quite as'? THX~

Does English possess the phrase that"make money doing sth"? Thanks~ The whole sentence is“ There is no mention of the possibility of any income as composers. Did Brian not expect them to make much money writing their own stuff, seeing them only as performers? “~~~

What is meaning of “ Of course not” in this sentence？ “So, if they had been able to read music, would they have gone a different route, becoming session musicians, perhaps not bothering to write their own songs? Of course not. Their view was that being properly trained would only hold them back.” What is the meaning of “ Of course not” here？Does it just mean they would not have gone a different route？ THX~

What does “within a year or so” modify here？ "Within a year or so, Paul was boasting that they had already written between seventy and one hundred songs" what does “within a year or so” modify here？ Does it modify the whole sentence？namely, it means that Paul was boasting within a year? or it just modify the clause,means they had already written between seventy and one hundred songs with in a year or so? Thanks~